Rapturous Rakes Bundle (12 page)

led them. He did not want to ask Rebecca any more

questions on the topic now, both because he knew that

she would become suspicious and also because he felt

a traitor to be asking at all. He changed the subject to

something more personal.

‘Your friend, Miss Astley,’ he said. ‘Was she re-

sponsible for your commission from the Archangel?’

‘No.’ Rebecca smiled again, turning her empty

beaker between her hands. ‘My uncle did some work

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for the Club in the past, but Nan reminded Lord Fre-

mantle of it when he was looking for an engraver to

produce the rose bowl. She and I have been friends

since we were children, for all that our way of life is

quite divergent these days.’

‘And does she seek to persuade you that her way is

preferable to yours?’

‘Of course,’ Rebecca said. She looked around the

studio, a rueful smile on her lips. ‘Who is to say that

she is not correct, my lord? There are easier ways than

this to earn a living.’

‘Yet you do not believe it?’

Rebecca looked him straight in the eye. ‘Maybe it

is a fault in me that the one commodity I am not pre-

pared to sell is myself.’ A little frown creased her

brow. ‘And that reminds me, my lord, that I must ask

you not to give me any further charity. I cannot afford

to pay you back.’

‘I am not asking you to do so,’ Lucas pointed out.

He gestured to the fire. ‘I could dismantle that, I sup-

pose, and take it with me, but I am loath to deprive

you of its warmth.’ He stood up, smiling at her. ‘I

fear, my dear Miss Raleigh, that you will just have to

bear with my quixotic gifts—and bear with me.’

Rebecca got up too. ‘It would be better if you were

not to call here again,’ she said.

Lucas could see the reluctance in her face. ‘Better

for whom?’ he queried gently.

‘Better for me.’ Rebecca fidgeted with the pencils

on her work desk. ‘Already people are starting to com-

ment.’

Lucas raised his brows with arrogant disregard. He

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had never cared for the opinions of others. To him the

most important thing was that Rebecca should not

starve. ‘People are talking? Then tell them to go hang.’

Rebecca frowned slightly. He sensed that she was

genuinely distressed. ‘Then you will not promise to

leave me alone?’

‘I will not.’ Lucas sighed. ‘I cannot, Miss Raleigh.’

He waited, watching her try to work this out. There

was a fugitive shyness in her blue eyes. These were

the times when he sensed her vulnerability most

acutely and it made him feel an utter scoundrel. He

was torn in half. He genuinely wished to protect Re-

becca and yet he knew he was taking advantage. This

was caddish behaviour, abusing her growing trust in

him in the hope that she might inadvertently pass on

some useful information. Justin’s return could not hap-

pen any too soon, so that he might hand over the entire

investigation to him and withdraw before he hurt Re-

becca Raleigh—and before his own feelings made a

fool of him as well. Already he was in far too deep.

And yet he had no real wish to withdraw.

He saw Rebecca’s brow creased into a deeper

frown. ‘Why will you not promise to leave me be?’

she whispered.

‘Because I cannot keep my word.’ It was the ab-

solute truth. Lucas took her hand and kissed her fin-

gers. He felt her try to draw away but did not let her

go. He looked directly into her eyes. ‘You see, Miss

Raleigh, I have no
desire
to leave you alone. On the

contrary, I wish to spend as much time as possible

with you. So you see it would be quite foolish for me

to make a promise that I have no intention of keeping.’

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He watched the emotions flicker across Rebecca’s

face. ‘You cannot spend time with me,’ she protested.

‘You distract me from my work too much. Besides...’

she gave a little shrug ‘...it is quite pointless.’

Lucas smiled. ‘Perhaps you will become accus-

tomed to my presence?’

Rebecca shook her head. ‘I doubt that I shall be-

come indifferent to it.’

Lucas drew her a little closer. ‘I am grateful for that.

The last thing that I should wish for is that you be

indifferent to me.’

Rebecca held him off with a hand against his chest.

‘And what would be the
first
thing that you would

wish for, my lord? For whatever it is, I cannot give it

to you. I cannot see
any
purpose
to your visits at all.’

Lucas turned her hand over and kissed the palm,

feeling the shiver that went through her body as an

echo deep within his own.

‘All I desire is to see you,’ he said. But already he

was making a liar of himself, drawing her into his

arms.

‘My lord,’ she said quietly, ‘I thought that I ex-

plained—’

‘It is only a kiss,’ Lucas said lightly, ‘and you can

always decline.’ He smiled into her eyes. ‘You have

already argued with me over countless other matters,

Miss Raleigh. It should not be difficult for you to re-

fuse me this...’

And as he spoke he drew her closer, allowing him-

self to forget the real reason that he was there, the

purpose of his enquiries, the dual nature of his interest.

Her softness and strength fascinated him. In that mo-

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ment he wanted only her and everything else faded

into complete insignificance as he bent his head to kiss

her.

Rebecca was not sure why she had told Lucas so

much, nor why she felt relieved to have done so. She

had not confided in anyone since her uncle and aunt

had died, but had kept her feelings locked tightly in

her chest, repressed beneath the work that had kept

her mind and body occupied from dawn to dusk. Now,

though, she felt lighter in spirit than she had done in

a long while. It was this she blamed later for her poor

judgement in allowing Lucas to kiss her.

‘It should not be difficult for you to refuse me

this...’ he said.

Somehow his broad shoulders seemed to have

blocked out the rest of the studio, the rest of the world.

Rebecca could see only him.

‘May I?’ Lucas said softly.

Now that he was so close to her Rebecca found she

seemed incapable of doing anything other than look at

him. She knew the answer to his question was most

definitely ‘No’, but she was having some difficulty

with the word. Eventually what came out was ‘Yes’.

She would probably have added a ‘please’, for good

measure, but Lucas was already kissing her by then, a

slow, lazy, languorous kiss that should have been light

and easy to dismiss, but somehow was not. His mouth

was warm and firm on hers, promising the sorts of

things that Rebecca was not even aware that she

wanted. As his arms went around her she felt her

whole body soften against his, pliant and suffused with

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heat. Her legs trembled and the ground seemed to tum-

ble away beneath her, which did not matter since Lu-

cas was holding her hard now. She leaned against him

and felt the world start to spin.
Now
she knew why

she had never allowed a gentleman to kiss her properly

before.
Now
she knew for sure that it was perilous and

exciting and enough to make one forget everything—

modesty and sense and propriety. Or, to be exact, that

was what kissing Lucas did to her. She doubted that

it would be the same with anyone else.

She was not sure how much time had passed before

Lucas let her go, very gently, keeping a protective arm

about her. Rebecca could not focus for a moment; all

she was aware of was an intolerably strong ache to be

in his arms again. She looked up into his face, saw

the blaze of heat in his eyes, saw that he was about to

pull her to him again, and stepped back in sudden

panic.

‘No! I... Oh, no!’

Lucas moved away at once. His face was a little

pale and he was breathing hard. He ran a hand over

his hair. ‘Miss Raleigh—Rebecca—’

‘Do not,’ Rebecca said. There was a wrench in her

voice. She could not believe that she had just invited

Lucas Kestrel to kiss her. It seemed absurd, extraor-

dinary. Yet she had ached to be in his arms and, once

there, she had wanted him to hold her forever. And

now that he had let her go she felt dreadfully lonely.

She was evidently far more vulnerable than she had

realised, to be drawn to the strength and assurance of

a man she hardly knew.

She pressed a hand to her lips, moving to put some

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distance between them. ‘I do not know why I said

yes,’ she murmured. ‘I never do such things—’ She

cut the words off before she gave herself away further

and moved behind the rosewood desk. It made her feel

better to put something solid between them. She hoped

that Lucas was going to leave soon. Her legs still felt

shaky and her head felt light, and she was not at all

sure what was wrong with her.

Lucas was watching her. It made her feel hot and

nervous.

‘I think I have made a mistake,’ she said.

‘I am sorry that you should view my kiss in such a

light,’ Lucas said. He started to move around the desk

towards her. A quick, heated excitement gripped Re-

becca and held her still.

‘Allowing for the fact that it was a mistake, how

did you view the experience?’ Lucas continued.

Rebecca drew a short breath. ‘It was tolerable, my

lord,’ she lied.

Lucas raised his dark brows. A spark of devilment

came into his eyes. ‘Only tolerable? That is not how

I would wish you to remember it, Miss Raleigh. You

had better give me another chance.’

Rebecca backed away swiftly from her second error.

‘There is no need whatsoever. It was passable, my

lord—perfectly acceptable...’

Lucas was laughing now. ‘I shall have to do better,’

he murmured, reaching to pull her closer again. His

voice roughened. ‘Acceptable is simply not...

acceptable.’

Rebecca wriggled, but Lucas had an arm about her

and held her ruthlessly still. She felt his breath feather

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across her skin. She could see the shadow of his eye-

lashes, spiky against the hard line of his cheek. His

lips brushed her jaw, then his mouth was suddenly on

hers, his hand tangled in her hair, tilting her face up

to his. Sensation flared within her. The rosewood desk

was smooth, the back of it hard against her thighs. She

felt herself tremble. Lucas’s hand brushed the cotton

of her gown, his palm against her breast. He was kiss-

ing her with such urgency that her head reeled. His

slightest touch could ignite her fiercest longings. She

felt heavy, languid and tingly all over. Rebecca had

never, ever imagined it could be like that.

The world shook. She felt herself lean back against

the desk, scattering the pencil sketches all over the

floor. The sound disturbed her and she tried instinc-

tively to pull away, but Lucas did not break the kiss,

prolonging it mercilessly until Rebecca had almost for-

gotten where she was and was held helpless and be-

witched. This time when his lips left hers she gave a

small gasp of disappointment that she could not re-

press, and she saw the masculine satisfaction in his

expression as he scanned her face. Useless to try to

deny his effect on her, for it was evident in her shaking

hands and her flushed, aroused face.

‘Acceptable?’ he drawled.

Rebecca moved away, surreptitiously holding on to

the desk for support. ‘There is nothing acceptable

about this behaviour, my lord. I desire no more from

my clients than that they pay promptly, and you are

no different from the rest.’

‘No different?’ Lucas’s insistent tone made her